Re: Why choose PostreSQL and not MySQL or Oracle!!

What PostgreSQL can or cannot do...

> "1. For application developers:
>
>    (1) Oracle supports stored programs such as stored procedurs,
> triggers,

yes

> packages,...

don't know what this is

>    (2) Oracle SQL and functions are powerful.
> Oracle provides powerfule functions and subqueries in its SQL statements.
> This feature saves much cost for developing complex queries.

yes

>    (3) Oracle supports distributed databases.

no

>    (4) Oracle supports partitioned tables/indexes.

no; however you can always use a combination of RAID, logical volumes, or
move database files by hand (very tricky though)

>    (5) Oracle provides many build-in utilities for developers,
> such as File I/O

yes

> TCP , SMTP , HTTP

why should this belong in a database?

> Dynamic SQL

no

> Job scheduling ...

use cron/at instead

> For example, you can send e-mail in a stored procedure by calling the
> UTL_SMTP package.

can be done by executing shell commands from the database

>    (6) Oracle supports Java in the databse.

yes and no -- there once was a separate package providing Java support in
the backend, but I don't know what has become of it; besides at least the
following languages are supported inside the backend: plpgsql, perl,
python, tcl, C

>    (7) Oracle database is well integrated with its middle tier(iAS) and
> developer products.

does not apply

> 2. For DBAs:
>
>    (1) In addition to full backup, Oracle supports many other backup
> options.

no (or at least you will have to write your own backup scripts then)

> These advanced backup options do not require database shutdown for
> backup operations.

yes

>    (2) For a well managed database,in most cases, a disk crash do not
> require databse shutdown for restore/recovery.

no; use a sane RAID array instead

>    (3) Oracle supports many advanced recovery options.
> For example, by performing an incomlete recovery, you can recover your
> database state preior to the
> running of a batch job which causes an accidental mass error deletion of
> customer records.

no (unless you manage to group all operations inside a transaction)

>    (4) Oracle supports many performance tuning utilities and statistics,
> which is useful
> to locate the system bottlenecks and then tuning."

available tools are less intuitive, but very helpful

> F.x. StoredProcedures - is that supported by PostgreSQL?

yes

> "And actually mySQL has transaction safe tables using the innoDB or BDB
> table type" - does the PostreSQL support that too!??

yes

>
>
> I've seen all the awards at the web-site - but why doesn't we hear
> anything about PostgreSQL - it's always MySQL (in the world of free
> alternatives)... PostgreSQL - is it a slow database (compared to MySQL)?

it is very fast; it is said to be slower than MySQL for read-only
databases

Regards
--
Helge Bahmann <bahmann@math.tu-freiberg.de>             /| \__
The past: Smart users in front of dumb terminals       /_|____\
                                                     _/\ |   __)
$ ./configure                                        \\ \|__/__|
checking whether build environment is sane... yes     \\/___/ |
checking for AIX... no (we already did this)            |